Geoffrey Thornalley
Geoffrey Thornalley (b. August 19, 3221, d. October 24, 3308) was a politician in Tukarali who who was a leading figure in the overthrow of the Fascist State of Tukarali and became the first President of the Democratic Republic of Tukarali. Life Geoffrey Thornalley was born in Loska, the son of Eric Thornalley, a lawyer, and his wife, the former Elizabeth Bruton. He married Laura Carmon (b. 3219) in 3253, and in 3255 their only son, Neil, was born. In 3248, Thornalley had started an academic career as a historian at the University of Sangon, which ended with the advent of the Fascist State of Tukarali in 3256. To support his young family, he started writing historical novels, and after several of them had been banned by the regime, he switched to writing detective stories under a pseudonym. Until about 3275, Thornalley refrained from political activity to protect his family from the Fascist regime. Only after his son, Neil, was arrested at a political protest and subsequently disappeared, he produced an anonymous pamphlet denouncing the authoritarian practices of the regime. He managed to keep these activities secret for a while, but in 3277, Laura Carmon Thornalley went into exile, taking the couple's daughter-in-law and young grandson with her (Neil Thornalley had married shortly before he disppeared). Geoffrey Thornalley stayed in Tukarali, but went underground. There is little information about the next few years of Thornalley's life, he was only heard of again when he was reported to be involved with the Tukarali Democratic Underground. It is generally assumed that Thornalley lived under an assumed name somewhere in the provinces and continued his anonymous pamphleteering. Political Career When the Tukarali Democratic Underground was founded in 3283, several of the new movement's publications were issued under Thornalley's name, though it is still unclear if these were really produced by himself, or if the TDU only used his name because his whereabouts were unknown to the regime. When the TDU nominated Thornalley as their presidential candidate for the 3284 presidential election, he briefly came out of hiding to hand in his nomination papers and subsequently disppeared again to protect himself from the regime, which had decreed that all parties had to support the Fascist candidate. It was only thanks to a courageous nomination officer who maintained that the decree that required the mandatory support of the Fascist candidate was invalid, that Thornalley's name appeared on the ballot at all. Despite being unable to campaign effectively, Thornalley was elected to the presidency in the November 3284 general election. He refused to use the official formal title of the Head of State at the time, which was "President for Life, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces" and styled himself "President of the Revolutionary Democratic Government of Tukarali." Thornalley organised free elections after a few months in office, in which he was returned with a slightly reduced majority. Afterwards he went on to promote the Declaration of the Democratic Republic of Tukarali, which rather surprisingly was unanimously accepted by parliament. As a consequence, Thornalley became the first President of the Democratic Republic. Unlike his successors as President of the Democratic Republic, Thornalley continued to be Head of Government as well as Head of State, and he served out the full term of six years which he had been elected to in 3285. President Thronalley steered through the reforms that subsequently enshrined the supremacy of parliament over the President of the Democratic Republic and retired at the August 3291 election. He was succeeded as Head of State (as President of the Democratic Republic) by former Minister of Finance Leo Johnson, and as Head of Government (as Chancellor) by the leader of the TDU parliamentary party, Edmund Chu. After leaving the presidency, Thornalley continued to be the official leader of the Tukarese Democratic Union, but he was increasingly seen as out of step with the conservative-leaning parliamentary leadership which came to dominate the TDU. In 3301, he did not stand for reelection as President of the Council of the TDU and retired to his home in Sangon to care for his wife, who had been gravely ill for a while. After the passing of Laura Carmon Thornalley in June 3308, there were briefly rumours that he would support the founding of a new liberal party in opposition to the TDU, but all such speculations were ended by Geoffrey Thornalley's own death in October of the same year. Category:Tukarese people